Arunachal to organise national workshop on hill roads

Itanagar, Oct 25 (UNI) Arunachal Pradesh is all set to host a national workshop 'Hill roads construction in rural areas' at Tawang from November 22.

The two-day workshop would be inaugurated by Union Rural Development Minister Dr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, state RD Minister Chowna Mein, who returned from New Delhi yesterday, informed.

Considering the geological and terrain peculiarity of this Himalayan state, the Union Minister had given his consent to inaugurate the workshop along with top ranking officials of his Ministry, Mr Mein said.

National experts and resource persons in hill road planning and representatives of hilly states, including Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jammu and Kashmir, have been invited to attend the workshop, the Minister disclosed.

''Hill road construction poses many challenges in the country which need to be addressed for proper planning considering the complex terrain,'' Mr Mein said, adding that the participants would deliberate on geometrics, geological mapping, geotechnical investigation and construction technology for evolving suitable strategies for hill road construction.

While a proposal costing Rs three crore for terrain modelling has been submitted to the Centre, support is needed for geographical mapping and geotechnical investigation, the Minister said.

The technical sessions of the workshop would deliberate on project preparation, application of modern techniques, alignment, geometric designs, pavements, drainage and protection work for rural roads, besides construction management, technology and quality control, the Minister added.